


Everything is Not Fine! [Part 01: Dante is the Answer]

by AlejandroAsher



Series: Dante is the Answer [1]
Category: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Sáenz, The Good Place (TV)
Genre: 13 chapters?, Afterlife, Alternate Universe - Afterlife, Alternate Universe - The Good Place (TV) Fusion, Angels, Brief Fluff, C'mon, Canon-Typical Behavior, Demons, Drunken Kissing, Falling In Love, Gay Male Character, I love them but they need to suffer, Immortal deities, Inspired By The Good Place, Love, M/M, Mid-Canon, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Not now gay thoughts, OP is back on his bullshirt, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmates, Spoilers, The Good Place (TV) References, The Good Place (TV) Spoilers, Underage Drinking, absolutely no ulterior motives, canon is a SANDBOX and I am BUILDING a CASTLE, canon typical Woah There Buddy Don’t Make That Decision, cuddling for warmth, don't tell my wip that i'm here, i wrote these tags while listening to lady gaga, it all ends pretty quickly, it says major character death but like he’s already back so it’s ok, it's really not a slow burn, like a tv show, most of these tags were taken from @neatao3tags on twitter, spoiler alert they’re gonna fall in love, we can't cuss? that's bullshirt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:22:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26604391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlejandroAsher/pseuds/AlejandroAsher
Summary: Ari Mendoza threw himself in front of a car to save the life of his best friend, Dante Quintana, not knowing that while Dante might survive, he wouldn't. In an alternate universe where Ari did not survive the accident, he finds himself in the Good Place among his neighbors Leo and Diego, his soulmate Ileana, Tahani the Architect, and her assistant Janet. But does he truly belong there, or is he reaping the rewards of a certain someone else who truly deserves to be in his place?OR:An A&D/The Good Place crossover. MajorThe Good PlaceSeason 4 spoilers. Knowledge about The Good Place is ideal but not necessary. Knowledge about Aristotle and Dante is necessary.Dedicated to my friend lostintheverse, who watched The Good Place just to better understand this crazy idea I had; you're amazing and I love you forever.
Relationships: Aristotle Mendoza/Dante Quintana
Series: Dante is the Answer [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1935376
Comments: 11
Kudos: 8





	Everything is Not Fine! [Part 01: Dante is the Answer]

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lostintheverse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostintheverse/gifts).



> I HAVE HAD THIS IDEA FOR SO LONG AND IT'S SO THRILLING TO FINALLY BE POSTING IT I CAN'T EVEN TELL YOU AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
> 
> So, I love _The Good Place_ and Aridante, and this idea occurred to me shortly after watching the TGP finale, so of course I couldn't stop myself from writing it. Please note there will be _major_ Good Place finale spoilers, especially towards the end. This is the first fic in a planned series, kind of like the first season in a TV show (this fic even has 13 chapters! :D).
> 
> If you haven't seen The Good Place and are curious, the entire series is now on Netflix, both in the US and overseas. If you don't want to watch the Good Place and would rather just have the ending spoiled for you, I'll prepare an explanation sooner or later.
> 
> If you haven't read _Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe_... bro, what are you doing? Go read it, at least up to page 107.
> 
> This is an exploration of Ari's psychological flaws and shortcomings, and how he might overcome them if he were put through The Good Place's afterlife test system.
> 
> There isn't an update schedule for this, BUT the entire plot of this first work is all outlined and planned, so that will hopefully make the writing process faster.
> 
> I really hope you guys enjoy this. Let me know what you think! :)

_Welcome! Everything is fine._

These are the words written in green text on the wall in front of me when I open my eyes. A wave of peacefulness washes over me, for some reason. I don’t remember what I was doing just a moment ago, but somehow, it doesn’t seem to matter anymore. And yet, I have a nagging feeling in the back of my mind like I'd just been distracted from an important task, that feeling I have whenever I realize I've been staring up at the ceiling for a long time while I should be doing my homework.

I hear a knob turn, and then a door open. A tall woman with dark skin and long, black hair steps out. She’s wearing a teal pantsuit and a bow tie with a peacock’s-feathers-design. I can tell she’s incredibly pretty. 

“Angel Aristotle?” she asks. She speaks with a British accent. Her teeth are impossibly white. Her lips are coated in pink lipstick. Then she nods towards the room she just came from. “Come in.”

I step into the room. It looks like an office, but not like the one Dante’s dad has in his house. It’s different.

All of this feels very different.

The woman sits down at the desk, where she has a file folder and a few pencils and pens. “Have a seat, Angel,” she says, gesturing to the seat right across her desk.

“Um… you can call me Ari,” I say, feeling stupid. “I don’t like the name Angel. Or Aristotle.”

“Alright then, Ari,” she says, flashing me a smile as she tries out my nickname. “Before we begin, I hear that you’re fluent in Spanish and English, but that you learned Spanish first. Which language would you prefer to use here?”

“Um… both are fine. I don’t really care,” I answer absentmindedly as I look around her office, then back at her. “Where am I? And what’s happening?”

The woman laughs. “I’m sorry, darling, I suppose I should explain first.”

“Yeah, please do.” The attitude in my voice comes out accidentally. Whoops. Too late to retract it. I decide to lean into it by furrowing my eyebrows and resisting returning her smiles.

She doesn’t scold me but instead gives me a warm smile. Damn you. “You, Ari Mendoza, are dead.”

I blink. “What?”

“But it’s okay,” she adds hurriedly, “because you are in the Good Place.”

“The Good Place?” I look at her like one does at a conspiracy theorist, or a Jehovah's Witness who won't stop knocking. “I thought it was called _heaven_.”

The woman nods. “Yes, that’s what most people tell me. The afterlife isn’t really the traditional heaven-versus-hell idea your parents raised you on. But generally speaking,” she says, putting her elbows on the desk and leaning closer to me, “in the afterlife, there's a Good Place and there's a Bad Place.” She leans back in her chair, her arms resting at her sides. “Luckily for you, it would seem you've made it to the former!” She opens the folder on her desk. I can’t see any of the text on it, to my dismay. “Let's see, how best to explain this to you… your parents raised you Catholic, right?”

“What’s that you’re reading?” I ask, pointing to the folder with various papers in front of her.

“Oh! This is your file.”

“My file?”

“Yes. Every human has one; it’s a file containing everything about you and everything you did in your life.” I don’t even have time to process what she’s just said to me before she continues talking. “It says here your parents raised you Catholic, but that you were more of a… self-described ‘Catholic agnostic’?”

I blink once, twice, three times. “Yeah,” I say, a little astounded. _Maybe I really_ am _dead._ “But I was only joking when I said that--”

“--to your best friend, Dante Quintana, right?” She finishes my sentence with her own question.

_Oh, fuck. Dante._

“Is Dante dead too?” My eyes widen. I feel my heartbeat accelerate. I wonder why I have a heart, or any internal organs, since this is the Good Place and I don’t need them to live anymore. I’m already dead. Panic sucks. If this is the Good Place, why am I experiencing it? “And why is my heart beating so fast? And who are you? And how did I die?!” The questions tumble out of my mouth before I can stop any of them.

“Ari, dear,” she says, reaching out to grab my hands with her own. _“It’s okay,_ really. You needn’t worry about anything anymore.”

 _“Where’s Dante?”_ I demand.

She opens her mouth, then closes it. Then answers. “Well, to answer your inquiries one by one: it doesn’t _appear_ that Dante is dead quite yet, though he likely will be very soon. Your heart is beating fast because you’ve gotten yourself all worked up. My name is Tahani, and I’m the Architect of the neighborhood. Apologies for not introducing myself sooner. And as for how you died…”

She opens my file again and reads for a few seconds, then closes it and looks back at me. “In the cases of traumatic or embarrassing deaths, we erase the memory to allow for a peaceful transition into the afterlife.” She looks at me with a careful expression. “Are you sure you want to hea--”

“Yes,” I answer instantly before she can finish her question.

Tahani opens my file and begins reading from it. “You and your friend Dante had just returned to his home from the swimming pool. It was the first time you had gone swimming with him after you recovered from a severe case of the flu. You walked back to his house in the rain, and then the two of you had a conversation, in which Dante asked you various questions and you gave him an answer for each one.”

My heart sinks as the memories begin to come back. I don’t remember what happened that killed me--and probably him, too, apparently--but for some reason, I feel like it’s on the tip of my tongue.

She continues reading. “Dante wanted to go on a walk with you because it was so beautiful outside. Then he saw a bird in the middle of the street with a broken wing. He ran out into the street to save the bird, when you suddenly saw a vehicle swerve around the corner, about to hit Dante. Without thinking, you bolted into the street to push Dante out of the way, but by the time you got close enough to save him, the car was much too close, and it struck the both of you. You died almost immediately, while Dante is currently fighting for his life in the hospital and isn’t expected to survive.”

“Oh” is the only thing that escapes my mouth for a while.

_I couldn’t save Dante in time and I died because of it. And he's going to die soon, too._

Tahani reaches out and squeezes my palms again. “I know this must be a lot to take in all at once, darling. You have as long as you need.”

I open my mouth, then close it. Open it again, to speak, then close it again. I don’t want to speak. I don’t want to talk. I don’t want anything, except for Dante.

Finally, I gain control of my breath. “Can I have a second alone?”

“Of course, darling,” Tahani says, standing up and leaving. “Just open the door whenever you’re ready to talk again.”

The very instant the door shuts behind her, I explode into tears. I’m suddenly grateful I was already sitting down in this chair, because if I wasn’t, I definitely would have collapsed back into it.

Now that Tahani has read how I died out loud to me, the memory is incredibly clear and vivid in my head. Dante went to pick up a fragile little bird when a car came around out of nowhere and hit him. And then I tried to push him out of the way, and then the car hit us. It all felt like a fucked-up dream, like one of the nightmares I’d had while I was sick with the flu. Except this one is infinitely worse than any weird or scary thing my brain could ever come up with, _because it was real._

While I had the flu, it was possible for me to wake up. The sparrows would be falling from the sky and then I’d wake up. Buddy Holly’s plane would crash into the Earth and then I’d wake up. I’d be looking for Dante and then I’d wake up. I’d be looking for my dad and then I’d wake up.

But now I can’t wake up. There’s no nightmare to come out of, no way to close the book and stop reading the pages, no way to hit Pause on the cassette player, no way to walk out of the movie theater. And it’s _fucking with me_ in the worst possible way.

 _I’ve never been this sad in my life._ Or in my afterlife.

My eyes must be bloodshot red by the time I’ve finished crying. My nose is so runny and plugged I think I have the flu all over again. I wipe my tears with my sleeves and use some tissues on Tahani’s desk, then throw them in the garbage bin.

Then I open the door. Tahani is sitting on the sofa, looking down at her lap. She looks up at me. “Ah, darling, you’ve let your emotions out. That’s good.”

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” I say to her, offering her nothing but a weak smile.

“Oh, it’s no problem at all! I’m an immortal deity, so I have all the time in the universe,” she tells me as she sits back down at her desk. She either doesn’t notice I used her tissues or doesn’t mind it--in any case, she doesn’t say anything about it. “Oh, dear, you’re a mess!” she says as soon as she gets a closer look at my face. “Let’s have Janet clean you up. Janet?”

I’m about to ask who the hell Janet is when I hear a _bing_ right next to me. “Gah! What the fork?!” I yell, jumping out of my damned skin when I see that a woman dressed in a flight attendant’s clothes is suddenly standing right next to me. She has long brown hair and a big smile.

Then I blink when I realize what I just said. “Fork,” I repeat. “Why the fork can’t I say fork?!”

“Oh, we don’t use profanity here in the Good Place, so expletives are immediately censored with euphemisms that merely _resemble_ the sound of what you intend to say,” Tahani explains with a smile.

“That’s bullshirt,” I mutter under my breath.

Tahani exhales. “As I was about to say, this is Janet!” She gestures to the woman who appeared out of thin air. “Janet is our assistant. She knows _everything_ in the universe, so you can ask her anything! And she can get you literally anything you could imagine!”

I stare at Janet in disbelief for a while until I look over at Tahani. She’s grinning from ear to ear. “Go on! Ask her something!”

“Where is Dante right now?” I ask Janet, deciding not to clarify which Dante I’m talking about. If she knows everything in the universe, she must know who I mean.

“Your friend Dante is in intensive care at the moment,” Janet says to me without missing a beat. “The chances of him surviving the accident he was in with you is about zero point zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero two percent.”

My heart leaps at the statistic, but then I immediately feel bad. _Is it horrible to...kind of want Dante to die now?_ I want him here with me; I know nothing will really feel like the Good Place until Dante’s with me again, but… 

My thoughts lead me to another question. “What about my parents?”

“Your parents are currently still at the hospital, alongside Dante’s parents. Your father is sitting in a chair, frozen in shock, holding your mother as she sobs louder than anyone else in the entire building into his shoulder. Dante’s parents are currently praying for his survival and that your soul may be at peace.”

My mouth goes dry. “Dante’s parents’ prayers...aren’t going anywhere, are they?”

Janet smile at me. “Well, that’s not how I think of it, Ari.” I flinch a little at the fact that she already knows my name, but then again, it’s no surprise. She knows everything in the universe. “Prayers are pleas from the living to the deities of the afterlife. We hear prayers from all different kinds of religions, though we can't exactly do much about what they're asking of us. But the universe does have a funny way of making everything work out, in the end.”

“Oh.” I take a deep breath. “So… if Dante does die, can you let me know?”

Janet nods. “Of course.”

Tahani smiles. “Thank you, Janet,” she says to her.

“No problem.” Janet smiles again. I begin to think her smile is inscrutable. It’s weirdly mechanical but friendly at the same time. I don’t know what to think about her.

It occurs to me that Janet probably doesn’t have emotions.

Then there’s that _bing_ sound again, and just like that, Janet’s gone. “You’ll have more time with Janet later, if you like,” Tahani says. “For now, let me take you on a tour of the neighborhood!”

* * *

The neighborhood is beautiful. It feels a lot like El Paso, but it’s also very distinct, at the same time. Tahani takes me for a walk down the sidewalk of a row of houses. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say this is a part of El Paso that I’d never seen before. Maybe it isn’t meant to be El Paso at all.

“Most of our residents here are young, around your age,” Tahani explains to me. “I designed this neighborhood to accommodate young teens like yourself who had unexpected deaths.”

I blink. “Are there a lot of teenagers who die unexpectedly?”

Tahani says nothing else but “You’d be surprised” in response. “I’m sure you’re wanting to see where your _own_ house is, but we’ve got to go to the town square first.”

I blink at what she says. “Wait. I have my own _house_ ?” This really _is_ the Good Place!

“Yes, darling, you do! But that will have to wait. The movie’s about to begin,” she says as we reach the end of the road and start walking along a path that leads to a plaza.

“The movie?” I said.

The plaza’s center is a beautiful garden with the greenest grass you’ve ever seen. There are an array of lawn chairs on the grass, and there are some people that have already sat down, awaiting whatever movie Tahani is talking about. In front of all the chairs is a huge screen that’s just floating in the air, way bigger than even the screens they have at the movies. I look around--there’s no projectors, no wires, no speakers in sight.

Then again, this is apparently the Good Place, so I guess magic is the explanation for everything. Guess magic is something I’ll have to get used to.

I stop just as I’m about to step foot into the garden. Somehow, I feel like if I set foot here, I’ll contaminate the garden with… I don’t know. Myself? My shoes? My footsteps?

_“Take off your shoes, Ari. Live a little.”_

Those were the words Dante said to me when we were at the park, when we saw those kids shooting the sparrows in the sky with their BB guns. I let myself smile as I lean down to untie my shoes, leaving behind my socks as well, and I step onto the grass with my bare feet. _This is what Dante would want me to do with him._

I can almost hear his voice in my head now. _“We’re in heaven, Ari! You’ll never need your shoes again!”_

I take a seat, surprised at how nice walking barefoot along heaven grass feels, and look up at the screen. It’s blank white right now; nothing’s happening yet.

I take a look at the other people sitting in the chairs, these people who are my supposed neighbors for eternity. A lot of them do look very young, and a lot like me. There’s a lot of brown people here, a lot more than there even are in El Paso. Some are girls, and some are boys, and some have a unique look that makes me unable to tell if they’re a boy or a girl. Some have lighter skin than others and some have darker skin.

I think there’s a word for lots of different kinds of people in one place, but I can’t think of it. Dante would know what word I’m thinking of, though.

Some time passes before all the seats are full. My heart sinks a little at how it appears there aren’t any chairs left for new residents that might arrive a little late. _No room for Dante._

Suddenly, the movie starts playing. I turn back to look at the screen.

The movie starts with the text “THE GOOD PLACE ORIENTATION: Day One” in green just before Tahani walks into the frame. “Hello, everyone!” Tahani-from-the-movie says cheerfully. “And welcome to your first day in the afterlife!

“All of you were, to put it simply, good people. But, how do we know that you were good? How are we sure? Well, during your time on Earth, every single one of your actions had a positive or negative value attributed to it, depending on how much good or bad that action put into the universe. Every sandwich you ate, every time you bought a magazine, _every single thing you did_ had an effect that rippled out over time and ultimately created some amount of good or bad.

“You know how sometimes, people will put plastic into the garbage instead of the recycling, and they’ll think, ‘Who cares? No one is watching me!’ _We_ were watching. Surprise!”

The audience laughs, but I don’t.

“Anyways, when your time on Earth has come to a close, we calculate the total value of your life using our perfectly accurate measuring system. Those who have a point total that’s _above_ one hundred thousand positive points are given entry into the Good Place. What happens to everyone else, you ask?” Tahani-from-the-movie waves a hand dismissively. “You needn’t worry about that. The point is, you are here because you lived a good life. It may not have been perfect, but it’s clear as day that all of you truly tried to lead good lives.

“And you won’t be alone!” Tahani-from-the-movie goes on. “Your true soulmate is here, too!”

The crowd gasps in shock as everyone’s heads whip around to try and see everyone else, to figure out who their soulmate is. “That’s right--soulmates _are_ real!” Tahani says. “and you two will spend eternity together.

“So welcome to eternal happiness! Welcome to the Good Place!” Tahani says cheerfully. “Sponsored by: otters holding hands while they sleep!” The crowd awws at the adorable photo of two otters holding hands that appears on the screen as Tahani speaks. “You know that feeling when you look at two otters holding hands? That’s how _you’re_ going to feel, every day.”

The crowd applauds as the movie ends and the screen disappears. I don’t clap, though. I don’t do anything the crowd does.

* * *

“How do you know who a person’s soulmate is?” I ask Tahani as we’re walking down the street again, where we’re apparently walking to my house. _A house of my own._ A house where I can live by myself, all on my own. _All on my own._ Such a beautiful phrase, _all on my own._ I think the phrase “all on my own” is my soulmate.

At least, all on my own until Dante gets here.

“Well, to be honest with you, darling, I’m not really sure,” Tahani says. “It’s not really knowledge I need to do my job as an Architect. I receive your files, and they say who your soulmate is on them.” She shrugs. “There’s not really much else to it, I suppose.”

“So… then what does an Architect do?”

“Well, Architects are the ones who design the neighborhood so that it’s tailored to its residents,” she says. “There are 321 other residents in this neighborhood, though not all of them have arrived yet.” Her words give me a bit of hope. “You all have many differences--some of you are teenagers, and some are young adults. Most are Hispanic, though quite a few are white, or Black, or Asian. Some are hearing and some are Deaf. Some are sighted and some are blind. Some are male, female, non-binary.” I don’t ask her what _non-binary_ is; I’ll just figure it out for myself. “But there is one thing you all do have in common.”

“What’s that?”

“You’re all lone wolves, so to speak,” Tahani says.

Oh.

_Does that mean Dante won’t come into this neighborhood?_

Tahani must notice the expression on my face, because she smiles at me. She stops walking and she puts her hands on my shoulders. “Ari, darling, you’ll have a million more questions, I’m sure of it. About Dante, right?”

I bite the inside of my cheek and give her a small nod.

“We’ll have time for all your questions later, dear,” Tahani tells me. “And Janet is here to let you know when Dante dies, if he does. There’s no need to worry. In the meantime, welcome to your new home!”

She puts her hand on my back and spins me around to face the house in front of us as those last five words leave her mouth.

In front of us is an _enormous_ house, almost a mansion. It’s exclusively red and blue, and it has the world’s _ugliest_ paint job, like someone did some pot just before getting their high ass on a ladder and painting the house. I stare at it, confused, only to remind myself that I probably shouldn’t be letting it show. “You see, Ari,” Tahani explains to me, “in the Good Place, everyone has a home that perfectly matches his or her or their true essence. Janet built you this house based entirely upon you!”

“...Oh!” I say, trying to sound like I like it. This house is ugly as _fuck_ , though of course I can’t say that. If this house is really based upon _my_ essence, what does that say about me?

_“Those who have a point total that’s above one hundred thousand positive points are given entry into the Good Place. What happens to everyone else, you ask? You needn’t worry about that.”_

If everything you do is worth something, and you’re supposed to have 100,000 points by the time you die… why am I here? I never did much of anything, and I can’t think of anything that would’ve earned me a fuckton of points super quickly.

I look at the house again, and notice something I hadn’t before: there’s a big, round glass dome near the back. “What’s that?” I ask Tahani, pointing to it.

“It’s best you find out by going inside, love,” she says, and then she takes my hand as she leads me into the home.

The chaos of the exterior paint job truly is absolutely _nothing_ compared to what I see inside. The first room we enter is a living room… I _think._

This room is large and circular. There's a sofa facing me in the center, with end tables on both sides. Both these end tables are littered, absolutely _littered_ with dirty dishes. If my mom were here, she'd lose her shit.

There's bookshelves lining most of the walls, containing thick and heavy books that look worn and old, like the poetry books Dante likes to read. There is a record player behind the sofa, along with a shelf that is filled with vinyls instead of old books. There are easels everywhere, each one of them displaying a portrait of Dante's parents or something that I recognize from Dante's home or something else Dante loves: the swimming pool, the sparrows that had fallen from the sky, a flaming pair of shoes slowly turning to ash. 

Pictures of me.

And there's piles of dirty clothes absolutely everywhere, except in places where it seems a path has been cleared so I can walk. I'm scared to touch any of them for some reason.

Tahani leads me into the kitchen, where there's already two bowls of menudo prepared and served at the table, complete with two large glasses of horchata and silverware, as if the kitchen is just waiting for two people to sit down and eat up. “I know how much you hate to do the dishes,” Tahani says, strolling over to the living room to grab a dirty dish from one of the end tables, “so look at this!” She places the dish into the sink, and immediately it dematerializes. 

“Where'd it go?”

Tahani opens a cabinet, where I can see that the plate she'd just put in the sink is now stored away neatly and is perfectly clean. “The dishes do themselves!” she exclaims. 

Oh. Wow.

Tahani shows me around the rest of my new eternal home. My bedroom is about the size of my parents', with a king-size mattress that is way too large for any one single person. The bedroom is, again, filled with easels and record players and vinyls and dirty clothes and bookshelves. In fact, most of the walls are lined with books, and I wonder how long it would take an immortal deity like Tahani to finish reading all this crap. Maybe I could ask Janet. Or Dante, if he ever decides to get his injured ass over here.

There is a bathroom, but there's only a shower in it. There's no need to brush your teeth or to have a toilet in the Good Place. Showers aren't necessary, either, but Tahani says my file said that I enjoy the feeling of being able to sit under the water and just think.

Then I'm led to the room with the giant glass dome. It's an observatory.

“You're not on Earth anymore, obviously,” Tahani says as we walk into the room together for the first time, “but this night sky you see here is a live feed of what the night sky from Earth actually looks like!”

She shows me a large, thin screen under the telescope that sort of resembles the screen we watched the movie about the points system on. It displays a map of Earth, and a few red dots right on El Paso, Texas, and one in Arizona. “You can tap anywhere on the map to see what the sky looks like from that location on Earth! And these red dots represent the location of a loved one. You can tap on them and see what the night sky looks like from their perspective, too.”

A telescope that lets me observe the sky from any vantage point on Earth.

Tahani gestures for me to stand in front of the screen so I can try it out. I tap the screen tentatively, still not used to how magic is evidently responsible for everything, and my finger lands right in the middle of where all those red dots are congregating.

The glass dome shifts suddenly, and I can see a view of a pitch-black sky with raindrops falling down and hitting the glass. There are no stars twinkling, nothing to observe or zoom in on. Even the moon is seemingly gone.

“This is where your and Dante’s parents currently are. This is the view from above the hospital, where Dante is healing,” Tahani explains.

“Oh.” _Dante is healing._

“I can remove the rain, if you want,” she offers.

“No, it’s okay,” I say. “I like the rain.”

She pauses. “Would you at least like me to make the sky a bit clearer? So you can see the stars?”

I shrug. “Sure.” There’s no joy in my voice.

Tahani waves a hand, and suddenly the sky is alight with a million white dots, some glimmering, some sparkling, some big and some small. My eyes widen at the sparkling microcosm of the universe that lies above me.

_“Someday, I’m going to discover all the secrets of the universe.”_

I wonder how many secrets are written into these stars that can’t shine upon my and Dante’s family.

* * *

“That’s all there is to see,” Tahani says as she brings me back out to the living room. “Are there any more questions I can answer for you?”

“Yeah,” I say, the word sliding off my tongue in an odd and unsure manner. I’m not sure this is a box I want to open. It might belong to Pandora.

Tahani must see the hesitation in my face. And voice. And overall demeanor. Damn these immortal deities that can see right through me. I don’t like it. It’s like having a fourth mom: my mom, Cecilia and Sylvia, and now Tahani. Maybe even Janet. If she knows everything in the universe. “What is it, darling?”

“Do I _have_ to have a soulmate?”

I want to hide under a table with a tablecloth. I feel like when I first met Mr. Quintana.

“Oh, darling,” Tahani says as she begins to laugh. “Dear, you won’t dislike having a soulmate. You’ll see, when they arrive.”

I blink. “Is… she still alive?”

Tahani, who had just been standing at the doorway, her hand on the doorknob, sighs and approaches me, leaning down a little bit. She’s much taller than me. “Every soulmate situation is unique, dear. Some are romantic and some are platonic. Some people have more than one soulmate. And some people have to wait for their soulmates to come to the Good Place. It happens sometimes.”

“Can I know who she is?”

Tahani frowns, and stares at my eyes for just a beat too long. I decide I don’t like it when people stare into my eyes. “I can’t tell you that, dear. You’ll have to wait until you meet them.” Then she stands up straight again. “Janet will notify you as soon as she arrives. It shouldn’t take long. After all, neighborhoods don’t truly reach their full capacity until _all_ the residents have arrived. Is there anything else?”

“No.”

She gives me a smile. Porcelain-white teeth once again. She makes me think she could’ve been British royalty at one point or another. “Alright then, dear. Janet is available anytime to answer any more questions you might have. I’ll leave you in peace now.”

“Thanks,” I say as she waves me goodbye and closes the door behind her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit note: Fixed a part near the beginning in which I left a note to myself in the text by accident. Whoops.


End file.
